“Today we celebrate and then we go to work treating the hearts of Oklahoman’s in south Oklahoma City and eastern Oklahoma County,” noted John Austin, Chief Operating Officer for Oklahoma Heart Hospital South Campus. “We will open the doors for patients with 16 ICU beds, 30 general cardiovascular rooms, 15 day beds and 10 emergency room beds. We have assembled one of the best teams of cardiovascular specialists in the region; we are trained and ready to see patients.”

The South Campus facility was built by a consortium of hospitals including Oklahoma Heart Hospital North, Mercy Health Center, Midwest Regional Medical Center and Norman Regional Health System. Oklahoma Heart Hospital North opened in 2002 as the nation’s first all-digital hospital dedicated to the care of hearts.

“Oklahoman notoriously has one of the highest levels of heart disease in the country and therefore the demand for cardiovascular services has escalated beyond our expectations since the Oklahoma Heart Hospital opened 7 years ago. This new facility will bring outstanding cardiovascular care to an underserved pocket of the state here in eastern Oklahoma County,” said Dr. John Harvey, CEO/President Oklahoma Heart Hospital. “The successful model of heart care delivery developed at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital North Campus was the inspiration to build a similar hospital in south Oklahoma City where demand is high and services limited.”

Oklahoma Heart Hospital South Campus will be a 46 bed facility with the capability to expand to 62 beds. There will be two operating rooms with expansion capability for a third OR as needed in the future along with three catheterization procedure labs with expansion capability for a fourth catheterization lab. The new hospital will have 10 ER beds and 15 day patient beds.

“We have attracted an outstanding team of cardiovascular specialty physicians from all over the area, including cardiovascular surgeons, interventional cardiologists, vascular surgeons, and pulmonologists,” continued Dr. Harvey. “Nursing will be a top priority at Oklahoma Heart Hospital South Campus. We have successfully recruited a roster of highly experienced nurses whose skills are concentrated on the care of hearts.”

Oklahoma Heart Hospital South Campus is designed from the ground up with embedded fiber optics to facilitate a paperless electronic medical record. The design flow of the facility was created by cardiologists for optimal patient care. The emergency room is just steps away from the operating room and the interventional catheterization labs. The philosophy at Oklahoma Heart Hospital is to minimize patient trauma by bringing services to the bedside instead of constantly moving the patient. Family is encouraged stay with the patient in large accommodating rooms to improve the healing process.

The nursing commitment is a one-to-one ratio of nurse to patient in critical care areas and no more than one nurse to every four patients on the general cardiology floors. The emergency department is a full service ER, with capabilities for all emergencies. An emergency room physician is on duty 24/7 plus a full emergency nursing staff.

The ribbon cutting for the new hospital will be held January 8th at 10:30 a.m. The building is complete and the staff is putting the final touches on the different departments so that the hospital can begin admitting patients on January 18th.

About Oklahoma Heart Hospital:
Oklahoma Heart Hospital opened in August 2002 as the first all-digital hospital in America totally dedicated to the care of hearts. Cardiologists from Oklahoma Cardiovascular Associates partnered with Mercy Health Center to make the hospital a reality. In 2006, demand for cardiovascular services in the region prompted a $98 million expansion at the hospital.

In 2010, Oklahoma Heart Hospital South Campus opened its doors as an all-digital hospital specializing in the care of hearts. The South Campus partnered with Oklahoma Heart Hospital, Mercy Health Center, Norman Regional Health System and Midwest Regional System to bring cardiovascular services to south Oklahoma City and eastern Oklahoma County.